


Forever Home

by Missy



Category: Golden Girls
Genre: Animals, Cheese, Dog(s), Fluff, Gen, Humor, Pets, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-18
Updated: 2012-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-18 22:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/566006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose brings home a dog from the shelter, whose stay with the girls might turn permanent...or be jeopardized by a wheel of cheese.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever Home

**Author's Note:**

> Written for cottoncandy_bingo, prompt: animal

Dorothy pushed her way through the front door, dragging a huge wheel of cheese and a suitcase in behind her. “Hello….” Trailing off in mid-sentence, she raised an eyebrow and stared at Blanche and Rose. “And who is this?”

Rose let out a laugh, throwing her arms around the neck of the oversized grey and white mop that licked at her face in that persistently joyful way unique to dogs. “This is Bongo!” Rose grinned. “He’s from the shelter. They’re overcrowded, so we're fostering him for the week!" 

“Good. I thought you’d adopted Phyllis Diller while I was gone.” Dorothy dropped her luggage in a heap by the door and slumped onto the couch.

“How was Brooklyn?” Blanche wondered. 

“Hot, stuffed with people and filled with yahoos. Just like a Nylund family reunion,” Sofia said as she entered the room. There was a sharp, quick bark from the dog, who turned his shaggy, grinning head toward Sofia. “Who’s the barking mop?”

“Just a fluffy little friend of mine,” cooed Rose. “isn’t he a cutie wootie schmooty?”

“Yeah right. Stop giving me diabete weeties,” replied Sophia. She eyed the dog as she moved toward the couch. “I’ve got my eye on you! Keep outta my liquor drawer!”

Bongo barked happily, his wagging tail slapping Rose in the face as she gave him a bear hug. “He’ll be on his best behavior!” she vowed.

“Just like the last four dogs you brought home,” Dorothy said. 

“They were all wonderful guests,” Rose said. “It’s not my fault Dolly mistook one of Blanche’s toys for…another kind of toy.” She coughed. “Who wants cheesecake?”

“ME!” the other three women chorused. 

Bongo let out a happy bark, but they weren’t about to risk the poor guy coming down with a tummy ache.

*** 

Several days passed by without further incident, and Dorothy was nearly ready to accept Rose’s promise as gospel. But she should have remembered all of her previous experiences with her friend’s love of animals.

“Rose!” Dorothy called as she stamped into the living room, “have you seen the cheese I brought back from Brooklyn?”

Rose gave her a thoughtful pout. “I thought I saw Sophia eating some this morning, why?”

“It’s gone. Completely, entirely, utterly gone!” she eyed Bongo. “And I think I know who took it. Do you know who took it?”

Rose looped a protective arm around Bongo’s neck. “Elves!” she said. 

“Don’t. Say that. Again. I’m not in the mood,” Dorothy growled. “Where was Bongo this afternoon?”

“He was with your mother! But Dorothy, he’s no cheese thief, honest!” 

Sophia entered the room, still wearing her uniform from her last volunteer job. “Hey, there’s my little cheesemonger,” she grinned, ruffling Bongo’s fur. The dog gave a pathetic growl of recognition but listed against Rose’s side. 

“Ma, how much cheese did you give that dog?” Dorothy asked.

“I lost track,” Sophia shrugged. “When that little guy gets going you can’t tell him no.” She paused and frowned. “He doesn’t look good. I’d get him out to the lani if I were you,” said Sophia.

“Fine,” Rose said, taking Bongo by his leash and leading him outside. “But you guys are gonna be sorry! I bet he didn’t even get close to eating that whole wheel of cheese!”

*** 

“I don’t believe he ate an entire wheel of cheese,” Rose sighed. The girls were sitting in the waiting room of Miami Vet RX, the nearest emergency room, while Bongo received a post-projectile vomiting examination. 

“I don’t believe he’s lactose intolerant,” Dorothy replied.

“Hey, if I knew I wouldn’t have fed him!” replied Sophia.

“We know, Ma,” Dorothy sighed. Within minutes the vet attending to Bongo emerged, looking significantly less spry but still alive. 

“He’ll be fine,” he told the worried Rose. “The poor fellow just had a little bit of an urpy stomach.”

“Thank you so much doctor,” Rose said.

“Yes,” Blanche said. “Girls, I need to get back home to scrape the filth off of my lanai."

“Calm down, Auntie Blanche,” Rose said, deepening her voice to approximate Bongo’s. “There’s plenty of kisses to go around.”

“If I’m going to kiss someone who smells like sick I’ll stick my tongue in Ozzy Osbourne’s mouth.”

“Again?” deadpanned Sophia.

“Don’t you like him?” Rose asked.

Blanche pouted. “He’s fine when when he isn’t getting sick all over my begonias.”

“Good. ‘Cause I was hoping we might keep Bongo,” Rose admitted. “He hasn’t found his forever home yet, and he’s been so happy with us!”

“I say we do it,” Sophia said.

“So do I,” Dorothy said. “IF we buy locks for the cabinets and Ma keeps her food to herself.”

“You’re the deciding vote, Blanche.”

No matter what she did, Blanche realized suddenly, she was bound to come out as the villain in this situation. “Oh, all right,” she sighed, patting Bonzo’s shaggy head. “You can stay.” 

Rose grinned, cuddling the gigantic samoyd which immediately snuggled up against her chest. Bongo might be a handful but he would soon be theirs to keep.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> This work of fanfiction uses characters from The Golden Girls, which is the property of Buena Vista Entertainment/Disney/NBC. Infringement for monetary gain has not occurred, and this is a work of fanfiction intended for nonprofit use only.


End file.
